Showing Off: The 2011 SEMA Show

The Specialty Equipment Market Association, better known as SEMA, throws a gargantuan show every year in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s known as the SEMA Show (imagine that!) and it’s the largest annual specialty-equipment show on the planet. The four-day 2011 show, held this past November, drew over 100,000 people from over 100 countries. The show featured 12 themed sections including Mobile Electronics; Tools and Equipment; Wheels and Accessories; and Trucks, SUVs, Off-Road. It also contained the New Products Showcase with over 1,500 newly introduced parts, tools, and components (you can read more about the new products elsewhere in this issue). But that ain’t all. In addition, the show hosted seminars, demos, celebrity appearances, and special events.

Let’s back up. If you’re not familiar with the SEMA organization, you need to know that it is involved in a number of aftermarket areas, and it works hard to protect consumers’ rights to drive accessorized, customized, and vintage vehicles. The SEMA Show is born of that mission, and it is an industry-only trade show where manufacturers exhibit their latest offerings to international and domestic buyers (60,000 of ’em at the 2011 show), distributors, and the press. The sheer size of the SEMA Show is truly mind boggling and its packed with a fascinating collection of four-wheel-drive vehicles that feature modifications to suit every taste.

Holding down the carpet at the Ford booth was this awesome ICON Ford Bronco. It’s modeled after the ’66-’77 bobtail, but it sports a drool-worthy collection of modern components like a 412hp 390 lb-ft 5.0L Coyote V-8 engine mated to an Aisin Warner five-speed manual transmission and Atlas transfer case. It also sports a custom coilover suspension with Eibach coils and Fox Racing shocks. More than just a pretty matte face, the Bronco also has Dynatrac axles, ARB Air Lockers, and Stop Tech disc brakes.

For those of you who weren’t able to attend SEMA ’11 we submit a collection of some of the most noteworthy rigs at the show. These are some of the trucks that drew crowds and got people talking.